


Hey, Brother

by DesertLily



Series: Holidays 2019 [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Enby!Race, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Jealousy, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Race and Romeo as brothers, Romeo-centric, nb!Race, nonbinary!Race
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21854497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: Romeo wasn’t sure at what point he started considering Race his brother but he wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Relationships: Racetrack Higgins & Romeo (Newsies), Racetrack Higgins/Spot Conlon (background)
Series: Holidays 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579699
Kudos: 23





	Hey, Brother

**Author's Note:**

> A festive fic for a friend! Also I think it's pretty much impossible for me to write Race as anything other than enby at this point

Romeo couldn’t remember his biological family. He had lost them as a young child and, as time went by, the memory of them had faded. As such, he had made a new family amongst the Manhattan Newsies. More specifically, he had found a family with Racetrack Higgins. Hell, Race had been the one to nickname him ‘Romeo’ in response to the way he seemed to try and romanticise things. They had practically adopted him as their brother the moment they had met. Romeo still wasn’t entirely sure why. Race always claimed they had simply seen a kindred spirit in him. Romeo just thought they were lonely and he had been lucky that he turned up at the right time. That wasn’t to say Race was a bad brother. No, they were very much the opposite.  
  
Once they decided they liked you, Racetrack was impossibly loyal. It was what led to them becoming Jack’s second-in-command and why Romeo considered them such a good brother. No one could even look at him the wrong way without Race jumping to his defence. Whilst it wasn’t always necessary and could be very much annoying, he still appreciated it. It was nice having someone who cared so much about him. Of course, Romeo tried to do the same whenever someone insulted Race but he was nowhere near as good of a fighter as them. Still, he had a very creative range of insults ready in his arsenal as a result. The two were brothers and they had each other’s backs.   
  
That was how he became so terrified of losing them. He had lost one family and had no intentions of losing his new one. As such, Romeo found himself growing jealous of Spot Conlon. It was dumb and he knew it was dumb, but he couldn’t help it. Race had started coming home later and later - even staying overnight in Brooklyn on multiple occasions. Romeo knew enough about romance to work out why; they were in love with Spot - just as Spot was in love with them. He hated it. He absolutely despised it. As Race started to spend most of their time in Brooklyn, Romeo started to develop the fear that they wouldn’t come home; that they would simply decide to stay with Spot Conlon; that they would abandon Romeo. It left him more than a little unsettled. Yet Race seemed perfectly oblivious to his concern. They were still smiling and joking with their cigar posed between their lips as if nothing were wrong. In their world, everything was perfect. In Romeo’s world, everything felt like it was falling apart.  
  
Things only got worse when Spot started stopping by the Manhattan lodge house. His official reason was supposedly discussing business but Romeo knew the truth. He was there to see Race. .That simple tidbit of knowledge caused jealousy to flare up inside of Romeo. Slowly but steadily, he began to see less and less of Racetrack. They had no time for him anymore. Instead, they were obsessed with everything Spot Conlon. Romeo would be lying if he said it didn’t hurt a little.  
  
Then Romeo’s fears were realised. Then Racetrack Higgins stopped coming home. The first day they were missing, Romeo was concerned. The second day, he was unsettled. The third day, he had started to panic. So Romeo did the only logical thing; he went to Jack. If anyone knew where Race was, it would be him. Jack seemed nonchalant and the answer he gave left Romeo conflicted. “Oh. Racer? Yeah, I think they’re in Brooklyn for a couple of days. Apparently Conlon needed their ‘help’ with something.” Jack snorted at that. On one hand, Romeo was relieved to know Race was okay. On the other, he was less than happy that they were spending so much time in Brooklyn - especially since they hadn’t thought to warn their brother about it.  
  
Romeo managed to answer Jack with a simple “Oh.” He didn’t really know what to say. What did you say when you realised your brother had abandoned you for their boyfriend? Romeo was quick to slink away to go and sulk after that. He wasn’t jealous of Spot Conlon! Of course he wasn’t! Why would he be? Apart from the fact he took up all of Race’s time. Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous of Spot in that regard. But only a little. As the days passed without Race coming home, that jealous only grow in to anger and passive aggressiveness. Still, he tried to act as if he was fine and everything was all smiles. For the most part, everyone seemed to believe him. Romeo wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or not.  
  
Things really didn’t seem to be going in Romeo’s favour. He had known the flu was going around but he hadn’t expected to actually catch it. With the winter creeping in and money growing tight, he had had to simply grin and bear it. Even if he had wanted to get something to try and treat it, there was no way in hell he would be able to afford it. That was how Romeo found himself selling at his usual spot with a blocked nose, equal parts sweltering and shivering. That was also the state Racer found him in upon their return to Manhattan.  
  
“Romeo!” Perhaps the brightest smile he had ever seen was plastered on to Race’s face as they made their way over to him. Though, it was soon to twist in to a frown when they realised Romeo was ignoring them - a frown that only seemed to deepen as they took in the state he was in. “...Ro’, what’s wrong?” Race’s expression grew soft as they moved to cup their brother’s face in their hands.  
  
Surprising both of them, Romeo flinched back as if the touch would burn him even more than his fever already was. “So now you care? It wasn’t that big of a deal whilst you were holed up in Brooklyn!” The jealousy poured in to his voice in full force. He couldn’t help it! He couldn’t hold it back any longer! “I didn’t even know if you were okay, Racer! I-” Romeo was cut off by a fit of wheezy coughing. This time, he didn’t push Race away when they moved to hold him close.  
  
“We’re going home.” Race informed him, slipping back into the role of big brother as if they had never left. “Then you and me are going to have a talk, okay?” Romeo just nodded in response. The walk back was mostly silent - excluding when Race stopped briefly to talk with Jack. That threw Romeo off a little.  
  
“...What’d you need to talk to him about?”  
  
“Nothing bad.” They were quick to assure him. “Just asked him if he thought some of the others would be able to sell extra for a little while whilst you rest up.” Race silenced any of Romeo’s possible protests with a single look. “You’re really in no condition to sell, Ro’!” Race wrapped an arm around him as the two headed inside.  
  
After Race had gotten him settled in the bunk room and calmed with their fussing, Romeo found himself speaking up. “...Why’d you leave for so long, Racer?” His voice was barely above a whisper.  
  
An unseen exhaustion washed over Race at that. “...Spot needed my help.” At the frown on Romeo’s face, they elaborated. “A couple of dickheads were challenging his leadership and he needed help calming things down.”  
  
As he listened, Romeo couldn’t help but be embarrassed by his rampant jealous. “...So you’re not leaving Manhattan for Brooklyn?”  
  
Race sighed. “I know I sell at Sheepshead and I love Spot, but my family ain’t in Brooklyn. He’s right here and I’ll always come back to him.” They ruffled his hair before turning to leave. “Now get some rest, okay?”  
  
Romeo grabbed their arm before they could leave. “Stay? You need to rest too.”  
  
Race smiled, moving to lay next to him in a bunk that was in no way big enough for both of them. “You’re my brother. I’ll always stay with you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! As always, comments are appreciated or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


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